Good stuff from EWG, but I don't have tap water. I'm in a very rural area with well (200ft) water. There's not much industry or farms near me and my place is adjacent to one of the largest protected areas in the state, also a recharge area for the Florida aquifer. So I figure I am getting relatively good water but yea you never know. I actually have data from a nearby well that is monitored by the state, but I need it interpreted or somehow check what the safe levels are. I had it checked with the local health department, but they only look for three pollutants. I'll ask them if they know of any labs that do a more a detailed analysis, thanks.

Has anyone got their drinking water tested through a lab that does extensive tests for pollutants? The local health department here only checks for three. I've seen companies online that do more extensive tests but wanted to see if anyone has experience with them first. Been thinking about a reverse osmosis system, but am curious if I even need one way out in the boonies next to a big protected area. Thanks!

I talked to Jordanne a while ago about helping with the site but nothing ever came of it. I still want to help so just let me know if any is needed. I've done a handful of sites for different orgs and currently am a sysadmin for a web hosting company. Not sure what the site is built on but I'm decent with perl and PHP, and pretty good with HTML and CSS. Most languages I can pickup pretty easily and have a lot of experience with Drupal.

Hi ramjack, That's funny, I'm reading the One Straw Revolution right now. I really like the mixture of biography, farming and philosophy. Reminds me a lot of what I've heard about Zen. It's like zen farming. The book is legally available, with many other eco-classics, from the soil health library: http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/01aglibwelcome.html

Have you done a soil test that includes PH and macronutrient analysis? Our local extension offers one for $7. Get that done and you'll have a better idea of what you exactly need in addition to what sounds like some organic matter. This season was our first attempt at corn and it's really tall, 6-10ft. Not sure if it's due to the heirloom dent variety we got or what, but they've produced decently as well. Generally we've had really good success with sheet mulching. We added some manure then newspaper/cardboard and then mulch. Cut a hole in the newspaper/cardboard and additionally added some rock dust for micronutrients and gypsum or dolemite to buffer PH swings. A month or so later we'll give each plant a handful of worm castings or compost.